Might have beens
by Biigoh
Summary: Once there was a girl... she triggered. But sometimes, things can change... let's see how Taylor's world handles various might have beens. Please be aware of spoilers in various snips. Current servings are "Maya : Game of Thrones" and "After the End : Palaver"
1. Maya 1

She ran.

She ran from the skittering thoughts in her mind. The murmuring words and images, the animalistic desires, the naked emotions.

She could see/hear/feel them all. Their needs, wants, and desires. It was so simple to reach out and touch them, to change them, to command them.

She ran because more than those thoughts, she could hear [**Them**]. The songs that they sang. To welcome her, to invite her. A symphony of joy and delight.

The eldest glided across the heavens drinking starlight and sunlight. The swirling and dancing Wind was its theme.

The second swam in the depths of the ocean, where darkness and the crushing pressure kept all away from it. The eternal Sea and all the Waters of the world was its to command.

The third, youngest and yet dreaded, slumbered deep beneath the earth, where stone was a liquid. And Fire was its delight.

Monsters, one and all, and yet... they welcomed her as one of their own. She could hear/feel/see their delight at her awakening. Cousin/Sister/Friend, they called her.

They gave her gifts, showed her how to occult her thoughts, to not be seen save when she desired to be, to shape the world as she was wont to.

But she knew them for what they were. Monsters. Slayers of men. That they loved her was irrelevant. That they called her kin was madness.

And so she ran.

From the school and the locker that she had been imprisoned in.

From those who saw her, but forgot all about her because she didn't want to be seen.

She could see the routes to take, to be forgotten. To not be seen. Naturally, she took them.

And she was not seen.

She was forgotten by those who saw her, a phantasm of a girl who glided in and out of their perception, clad in blood and ruined clothing.

She didn't want to be covered in filth and blood, and so she wasn't.

She ran and never stopped. Not even when she reached the edge of the world. A hole was created in the fabric of space, time and all the filaments of reality, and she ran into it.

Once, there was a girl.  
She had a name and loving parents.  
But things happened.  
One died, and the other was not enough.  
She had a friend, just one, mind.  
For she was a simple girl, and a single friend was enough for her.  
That friend turned against her, with nary a word nor warning.

Once, there was a girl.  
All she wanted to be, was to be left alone.  
To have the torments of her daily life ended.

Now, there was a hole in the world, shaped like a girl.  
And it ran silent, unseen, unheard, without a heart.  
For it had friends.  
It had family.  
It played the games that her kin/friends played.  
And the world had a new monster.

**Maya : Once there was a girl...**


	2. Maya 2

**CASE FILE : MAYA**  
**Interview : SUBJECT AEGIS**

What happened out there was a cluster... fish situation, sorry if I censor my language a bit there. I mean, the Endbringer siren went off.

That wasn't too bad, everyone knows about those. The civies got to the shelters, those who could left the city, and the capes that wanted to fight went to the Protectorate building.

Perfectly normal. Heroes and villains doing the whole truce while we fight for the city.

Normal, my... err behind, ma'am.

_*distraught laughter from subject*_

It was the briefing. Yes, the briefing that we found out just how bad things were. According to Dragon, we had an incoming Leviathan. Only thing was, he stayed outside of the bay, itself and refused to enter. We thought that this would give us time.

And that was when she updated the briefing with reports of seismic activity beneath the city that indicated Behemoth. But the effing Herokiller didn't come out. It just stayed underground. Waiting.

Which made the next update not that much of a surprise. I mean, two for three had already shown up... why not three for three, right? Yeah, we nearly crapped our pants, but it wasn't unexpected. Fucking Simurgh was orbiting the city, but not coming down.

I think it was at the point that one of the Thinkers said it looked like they were waiting. Can't remember her name. I think she was one of the independents or villains. Doesn't matter now.

So, someone else asked, "Waiting for what?"

She said... yes, she said this. "Something new. But they've never done this before, but it feels right."

As she said this, it was as if that thing was waiting for those very words. Dragon's cameras saw it first.

From the west, it came. Storm clouds, swirling from nowhere. Thick and dark, promising rain and despair. The city's edges consumed by a wave of ever growing fog.

_*See attached videos: MAYA 0001, 0002, 0003, 0005, 0010, 0025*_

This was when we realized what they were waiting for. A new one. A new Endbringer. We had no idea of what to expect, so we kept watching the monitors.

A city rendered grey and dark, covered in fog. That was what the world came down to, monochrome, all the colors leached out of it.

That was when we saw evidence of the Endbringer. A girl running. Or rather, something running in the fog. It parted around her. Shaped like a girl. That thinker pointed out the reflections and shadows that it cast. That empty nothingness shaped like a girl cast reflections and shadows with color.

_*See attached videos: MAYA 0030, 0032, 0033, 0040, 0075, 0080*_

Reversed.

Everything was backwards.

The body that moved in the world was an empty nothing, a hole in the world. Its reflection showed a girl, dazzling bright in a white sun dress, smiling and laughing as she ran barefooted.

Her motions didn't properly sync up with the motions of running, but it did with the nothingness projecting it.

We had a target, Dragon tentatively codenamed it Ghost.

Hunting that Endbringer wasn't hard. Not with Dragon giving us a play by play of where it was, its heading and more... it's speeds.

We caught up to it, cornered it and threw everything we had. And it was futile, like fighting the Siberian. Nothing we did, had any effect on her. Nothing. Not even those lasers by that guy. You know, that flying guy with lasers and stuff.

Oh, his name is Legend? Right, not even Legend's lasers did anything, and they could do just about anything and everything.

_*See attached videos: MAYA 0100, 0102, 0103, 0104, 0110, 0112, 0115, 0116, 0117, 0120*_

So, we retreated, the thinkers suggested going after the shadows and reflections. We went after that. Also nothing. Not even hitting the reflection and shadows did anything.

_*See attached videos: MAYA 0122 to 0200*_

As it moved, things slowly changed around us, but at that time we didn't question the whys, the differences. All that mattered was that we chased it. Yeah, it's obvious now that the damn thing is a stranger type, but at that time? All we could think about was chasing it, to keep running, to keep moving, faster and faster and faster.

_*Brief pause as subject stopped talking to drink some water*_

Not even the Thinkers found anything wrong, only that we chase it down, stop it.

It stopped when it reached... the beach. There was a throne formed from stones and boulders piled together. It ran through the throne, leaving only its shadow behind seated upon the throne.

But we could see it, that hole in the world continuing on, running on water.

And she just looked at us on the beach before her. And then she flickered and was gone. But she took something from all of us. I... I know it. It sounds stupid, but I don't know who I am.

I know I belong to the Wards, I'm a hero and my code name, but I can't remember my name.

Could... could you tell me who I am?

Please?

_*Interview Ends*_

Subject is unable to retain his name, despite being told it, despite reading it off his paperwork. Subject has shown no difficulty retaining information or any other abnormality with his mind or memory. Subject AEGIS is not unique, all the capes who encountered ENDBRINGER MAYA have had their memory affected in some way.

Interviews with civilians in the shelters in Brockton Bay show similar signs in that their memories too were affected to some level, but not to the absolute degree that the capes suffered.

Investigation of PRT and Protectorate computers, as well as historical archives indicate that they too were affected with information and files simply redacted or deleted.

Communication has been lost with tinker known as DRAGON. Recommend opening up lines of communication with her as soon as possible, it is quite possible that she has been affected in some way and may require aid.

.

* * *

**Maya : Memories**

**Worm AU**


	3. Maya 3

The heavy scent of smoke hung over the city.

Despite the relatively lack of damage from the Endbringer, there had been no respite for Brockton Bay not with the Slaughterhouse nine dropping by and doing actual damage to the city as they recruited new members before simply leaving.

There had been the usual cape fights.

But on a whole, Brockton Bay was surviving.

And she was going to make sure that it would do more than just survive. She would make sure it thrived. Even if she was a former villain, the aftermath of Maya had done things.

New lines drawn, new alliances made.

Shared suffering tended to bring people together. And when said suffering is having portions of your mind, your memories, your very existence being taken away... rendered as if it never was. That made it different.

People changed.

Some for the worse.

Others for the better.

Which was she was here. At the sight of Faultline, she smiled and waved.

"Tattletale," The blonde blinked at Faultline.

"Ah... you weren't here for Maya, were you?" She spoke up in response. "M... my cape name was one of the things that was lost that day. Objectively, I know I had one and all that."

She shook her head. "In any event, I do apologize for making you come back here. More important, I have to appologize for my past behavior with you. I was a complete bitch and I'm sorry."

"Damn... I can't even stay angry with you," Faultline could only shake her head.

She shrugged. "Sorry, I don't go by that... word you called me. Nowadays, I go by Lisa. Stands for Logical Intelligent Sexy Analysis."

"... you're using your name as your cape name. Seriously?" The question got a smile from Lisa.

"Maybe?" She shook her head. "In any event, I've invited you back here with an offer of lots of money for a simple reason. I intend to fix Brockton Bay. It's kind of grown on me... and to do that, I need to borrow Labyrinth to combine her power with Scrub here..."

Lisa smiled. "If you want, you can come in on the ground floor of what we're going to set up here. It'll be something new. Something big. Something that will change the world."

"That's it, feel for a world where there's no people," Lisa nodded at Labyrinth as the two stood in front of the shifting image encased within the gate. Gold and marble formed rough boulders stacked in a horseshoe entrance.

Eventually, the picture flickered and stopped. A landscape view of a city. It was Brockton Bay before things changed. Before the Endbringer, before parahumanity, before Scion. Intact and undamaged.

Here and there could be seen empty cars.

"It. I, there's _nothing_ here," Labyrinth's voice was soft. The way that she emphasized nothing got a blink from Lisa. "Nothing sees me."

"Could you look el..." The blonde paused and swallowed as Labyrinth continued on.

"_Nothing_ hears me. _Nothing_ is speaking to me."

"Cou... could you change it to another world quickly, Labyrinth?" Lisa's voice didn't hold the panic of fear she felt.

"_Nothing_ is curious," A figure. A girl that Lisa remembered from her nightmares. Slender and tall, with long flowing hair, crimson framed glasses. Bits and pieces of her could only be made out by the blonde as she found herself unable to focus on the totality.

An image of a girl wearing a blinding white sundress cast upon the wall, sauntered into view.

There was a tilt of a head that expressed surprise and curiosity. A smile and a shake of head, and the landscape shifted and mutated wildly, before letters drifted and formed into words, ever so briefly.

~All other worlds  
are yours except  
for this.  
Attempt no  
gates here.~

An instant or an eternity, those worlds hung on the gate before another landscape formed once more. A landscape filled with trees, mountains could be seen in the distance. The land sloped downwards, filled with trees before becoming a plain. One filled with immense creatures that wandered upon massive limbs, their armored backs covered with plant life, while avians drifted about them on wings.

In the sky could be seen the moon broken, and drifting around it rubble. Perhaps an asteroid that would have struck earth eons ago had been at the wrong angle, and just slow enough to be caught by the moon to strike it.

"Well. I guess now. Now we know where Maya went after hitting us. A place to rest and recover, kind of like the others. And it has watched old Earth Aleph movies."

.

* * *

**Maya | Gateways into nowhere**

**Worm AU**


	4. Janitor 1

The first time I met him was when I first got into high school, and accidentally dropped my glasses, causing the screw that connected the handle of my glasses to pop out.

He was just this man with red hair in a scruffy cover-all.

But he helped me find a replacement screw in his office.

When I thanked him for the help, he just smiled at me and said that he was happy to help. I would later find out that while he was just the janitor, everyone considered him a miracle worker for being able to fix just about anything.

It was when Emma turned on me, and started to bully me with Sophia and Madison that I found out that he liked to help everyone. No matter who they were, no matter what the situation, he would help if asked.

And as the bullying got worse, I found myself depending more and more on him. He didn't ask, and I didn't say a thing, but things just happened. Such as my finding doors opened when I investigated. Or my stolen possessions recovered and returned, in immaculate condition.

And... more than that, he saved me. He found me in the locker and pulled me out of it when I thought I would be trapped in there.

Despite all that he did, I found it curious that he never did get in trouble. So, I got to talk with him when hiding out in his office during lunch period one day.

Turns out that he did more than just clean things, or help students. He fixed everything.

Anything that broke, as long as it could be fixed... he would do it. I can not imagine what kind of skills such a man would have to be able to fix what he said he did.

And yet, it was evident that no one with a wit of sense wanted him gone or get in trouble. Not when he benefited everyone. Thus, it explained why Sophia, Emma or Madison didn't try anything when he was around.

The first hint I had that he was a parahuman was that day.

When the sirens sounded.

He started walking to the PRT building after making sure that the students and teachers had left the building. A simple mask on his face hiding his eyes being his only nod to the conventions of being a cape.

I joined the others in the shelter and thought of that man in his scruffy cover-all walking with resolution on his face away after giving me a smile and a pat on my head. He had said that if he could save just a single live, more, if he could help save everyone, then everything was worth it.

I could only hope that he was truly a cape and not just a mad man. And yet, in the dim light of the Endbringer shelter, as the ground rumbled and shook from the impact of Leviathan, I could only pray that he was right.

That mister Emiya was a hero.

* * *

**The Janitor  
Worm / Fate/Stay Night**


	5. Engel 1

It was in the locker, that I saw them.

In the darkness, I saw infinity. Giants beyond comparison, folding into themselves. Folding outwards. Bending space, time and everything. I had no words to describe them, beyond simply "big".

There was the sense of resoluteness. Of conversations.

Words transmitted beyond comprehension.

Of agreement and accord as they traveled in the darkness between stars.

I... we descended upon a blue green marble. Earth.

I flaked off, a splinter.

Descent.

Upon.

A single spot of brown, surrounded by blues and greens.

A building.

Darkness.

I gazed up upon infinity.

Upon something massive beyond thought that fell upon me.

I screamed.

I whimpered.

But there was no sound.

For there was no time.

A single sublime moment as I looked at infinity and infinity looked back at me.

And that moment ended, I forgot.

But in forgetting, I remembered.

And nothing had changed, I wept in the darkness of the locker. Closing my eyes against the faint light of the locker, I rested my head against the cold metal of the locker wall.

Breathing in the stench of the decayed blood and filth that I was surrounded by, I had to wonder just how much work those three had to have gone through to do... this.

I laughed, in my mind's eye, I could see them. I could see crimson orange mimicry of them as they sat in their seats. I could see the rest of the classes seated everywhere.

They surrounded me.

I breathed in and out.

I could see them moving about. I could see the crimson orange lights move around me. More and more.

A whispering shahhhhh like the roar of the sea filled my mind, words. Countless words murmuring out of sequence. Without consideration.

I whimpered and pushed, I had to escape, get away. And so, I pushed, I flexed a muscle I never knew I had.

The locker door behind me ceased to exist, and I stepped out of the metal cage much like a bird would an egg or a butterfly its cocoon.

I could sense them around me. It was clear that the mass of light were people. They were there. I could sense them, hear their thoughts.

It would have been easy.

Far too easy to simply reach out and speak to them. To tell them of how I had suffered. Of how each and every day in school was a torment thanks to them.

I didn't.

Instead, the muscles within my mind, within my soul... I flexed it once more and felt panels of light form behind me, casting a ruddy light upon the hallway.

Walking away from the prison that had once held me, I vowed that I would never return there. I would never return to the school.

With filth soaked into my clothes, and a stench of rot and decay hanging around me, I walked away from it.

And once outside, I spread my wings and flew.

.

* * *

**Engel  
Worm / Neon Genesis Evengelion**


	6. Second Chances 1

_"Would you do it all over again? Knowing what you know now? Knowing that you end up here, at gunpoint?"_

Words in the darkness.

_"Just about everyone comes to this crossroad. Some get seventy years, some only get fifteen. Enough time to grow, to take stock of who you are. Enough time to do things you'll regret when you run out of time."_

There was emotion attached to those words. Regret. Sorrow.

_"Don't- don't regret it. Was- had to. Saved lives. But I would do different, given a chance."_

They had meaning.

They were important.

They burned in the darkness like stars in the night sky.

I remembered the cold crisp light of the stars. The woman in white.

That look on her face. Checkmate. It was important that. That my choices were taken from me, that we might speak.

In the darkness beneath the brilliant and cruel moon that taunted me, beneath the heartless stars that laughed at me, it was an ending. A denouement.

Here I stood. Taylor Hebert. Weaver. Skitter. And it seemed Khepri, a new name chosen for me, after the style of the Winged One and her kin. Just another girl with a tarnished crown. A queen fallen so very far from her throne.

I looked up.

Yes, I had looked up.

There had been a shot from behind. An execution as befits a queen.

The sound had been loud, and as I fell... toppled towards the ground, the light of the stars spinning away. It was followed by another.

And there was darkness.

I could feel another presence.

Warm. Angry. It raged. It did not desire to fade into the night quietly.

And yet, I had stilled its hands, its countless hands.

For I wanted rest. Some quiet would be nice.

Was it so much to ask for that?

I had died... been killed. I knew this with certainty.

I had died. And yet. I saw. I watched. With familiar eyes.

The woman in white build a pyre, before cremating my corpse.

As my body burned, my eyes faded one by one... and all I was left with was darkness. Words that sparkled in the darkness. I couldn't read them, I couldn't say them in english. But they were all I had.

And I drifted.

I rested my head against cold metal and listened to the insects that surrounded me. Listened to their simple thoughts as they lived.

My eyes were closed, but I could hear the beating of hearts of rodents. Felt my muscles straining as they flapped the wings of the birds that flew by the school.

Heard the fluttering thoughts of those around me. I shied away from those.

I sighed before I spoke to my passenger, that imperious queen who refused to quietly fade into the darkness. Who roared against the on-coming darkness. "I died."

[Not dead. Choose?]

"Can't I rest? Is it too much to ask for that?" I rested my head against the cold metal of the locker I was trapped in.

[Not dead. Live. Command.]

I could hear the voices of those outside. I... knew them. Right? But their faces couldn't come to me. Even if I did understand their mocking words.

I could only weep. Warm wetness trickling down my face.

A second chance.

And yet.

Not something I would have willingly chosen. To be forced to do everything over again? Could I even do that? Did I have the strength to keep going on?

Would I be able to stay as I was? To not be a monster?

.

* * *

**Second Chances  
Worm Fic**


	7. Second Chances 2

The phone call was when everything went wrong.

He knew it in his gut.

It was when everything turned horrible.

A nightmare.

He had thought it was a normal phone call. Perhaps one of the dock workers asking if there was work, the answer was no. Or perhaps, and he didn't believe it for a moment, a call from the mayor with news that the docks would be opened once more, that there was money to be pumped into the economy.

It wasn't. It had been a call from the hospital. About his little girl.

As the voice on the phone spoke, he found that he couldn't heard what was being said. His heart pounded with fear. With concern. With anger.

He put the phone down eventually with a shaking hand.

He had known that she was being bullied, but to that extend? To be locked inside a locker?

Someone would pay for this. Wasn't the school suppose to watch out for its students? Who... who.

He breathed in, and struggled to control his anger, his urge to hit something, his inclination to scream, to shout, to break something. Someone.

He blinked and found that his eyes stung, that his face was wet.

He closed his eyes and counted, breathing in and out. Trying to control himself. Anger was bad. It had been his anger that drove Annette away. His anger lay at the root of his problems.

He knew this, and yet, it was always there. Always.

He stood up, and walked out of his office. He nodded at Tiffany. "I... something has come up. I... I don't know when I'll be back. Tay... Taylor, she's in the hospital."

There was the tsking and murmured shock from Tiffany, she had never approved of his marriage to Annette, but then... that was fine. He walked out of the office to where his car was parked.

Perhaps it spoke of how out of it he was that he didn't remember driving to the hospital, only that he had done so successfully.

He spoke to one of the nurses, was directed here and there.

As he drew near to the ward where he was told that his daughter was at, that he noticed the PRT soldiers, that he was in the Parahuman section of the hospital.

That was when his heart sank lower.

The PRT officer who looked like he was in charge held him back. Told him that it was dangerous. He nearly hit the uniformed man before restraining himself.

He breathed in and focused on what was being said. He knew that she had been bullied, but to be told of the extend of how they found her, trapped in filth inside a locker. Of how she had called insects to cover herself on being let out.

Of being unable to remember names. Or faces.

Of how the trip to the hospital had resulted in more and more insects simply being collected around the ambulance.

The door into the room swung open, and he looked into darkness. Skittering and squirming. The walls, ceiling and floor were covered in insects. Everything was covered in insects.

And seated at the heart of that darkness was his Taylor, who seemed to be looking out where the window would be. Softly murmuring to herself now and then.

"Tay... Taylor?" His voice nearly broke as he called out the name of his daughter, who turned to look at him from where she was seated on the bed, covered in insects.

How... how could anyone even endure that without going insane?

"Yes?" The hissing, skittering voices that echoed around that of his baby girl's broke his heart in how there was no recognition there.

"It... it's me, Danny," He looked at her, in her eyes for any sign, that she knew him. "Your dad."

"Dad... ahhh..." Her voice echoed once more. "I... I remember you. Not your face or... or your name. But you died. I remember that."

"So, so many died," She struggled as if looking for the right words. "But now you're not."

Her head tilted just so as she looked at him, as if memorizing his face.

He stepped into the room, and the insects parted around him.

The insects looked where she did, they were... her. He could tell that much even just from a single look. She did not seem to expect the hug he gave her.

The two of them weren't big on touchy feely stuff. It had been a long time since he had done this. To hug her like this. To be drawn close to him while they were seated on the bed together. "I'm here now, everything's going to be okay."

The door to the room closed, the PRT people giving the two of them a moment of privacy for now.

.

* * *

**Second Chances | Connection  
Worm Fic**


	8. Was it worth it? 1

"So, Direc- Director Tagg, was it worth it?" I blinked at where the director stood by the door. My father seated at the table.

"What do you mean?" There was a frown on his face.

I shook my head. "Was 'winning' worth it. Was the PRT outing me at the school- in- in public worth it?"

Miss Militia frowned now where she stood. It appeared that she was catching on.

"Of course, it was worth it," He didn't quite snarl. "If you think that I will permit a criminal such as yourself to run wild and do whatever you want to destroy America, you've got another thing coming. This is a war, and winning is everything."

I nodded at him, elsewhere, insects slowly texted out on a certain director's smartphone. [do it]

"Fair enough, but- but, tell me. Was it worth winning here, at the cost of breaking the- the unspoken rule of capes?" I smiled now, Miss Militia's face was slowly going pale.

"Unspoken rule, it's just politeness," He looked down at me.

"Really? I... it goes both ways, you know," I smirked and watched as Miss Militia ran out of the room. "I guess the PRT has no problems having the Protectorate Capes being outed to the world."

"What." He blinked at me. "There's a bluff."

"Is it? Did you know that- that we have a really good thinker? You know her, Tattletale. She likes to tattle- tattle on people," I shook my head at him. "And we got our hands on the PRT database when we hit the building."

The PRT director looked sick before running out of the room, leaving me with my father. "Sorry, Dad."

"Oh, Taylor," There was only a sad note in his voice as he looked at me.

.

* * *

**Was it worth it?**

**Worm AU**


	9. Maya 4

With each year, with each encounter with Maya, we learned new things. How she worked, the rules she was constrained by, and more importantly, how to reduce what she took.

Patterns were important.

Every year, in a specific month, in every city, care is taken to watch for the stone throne.

There were none who could remember it being built.

None who saw it being built.

But once seen, it was clear whose throne it was.

Naturally, there had been hoaxes and forgeries with the propensity of deviance that came from human nature, but for those of us who have encountered Maya, who have had something taken from us... the difference between the throne and fron its imitation is as clear as night and day.

And that was why I was here, to make sure that it was the real deal, as it were.

And if it was.

To bring down the throne.

As long as the Princess Endbringer didn't sit on her throne, her tithe of memories was smaller. Those who chased her forgot minor things. At least, as far as could be determined.

More, she didn't take anything from the humans in the city that she roamed, only the machines.

There was the other side, of course. There always was.

If one disrespected the true throne.

If one sat in it.

She would come.

This we knew.

For I had done just so once, in mockery of her. And she had come, with no warning. Silent as always. And she had looked at me.

And that was the only thing I could remember. Of my sitting there upon her seat, and of her displeasure.

She hadn't taken anything from the city we were in.

Rather, she had taken everything from me.

Excised everything but my memory of my mockery and her displeasure. Consumed my companion's memories, and left but a single memory of whose fault it was.

And left me to my penance as I served humanity and the world where once I mocked them. Objectively, I could see the records of who I was before my folly.

But I could not think the way I had.

I could not conceive the things I had done.

All I could do was everything that he hadn't, couldn't, wouldn't do.

Which was why I was here, looking at the throne, for it was bore the truth of her ownership. The illusion that was the world, transient as mist and light.

Maya would be coming to Brockton Bay once more.

And it would be up to me to make sure that her tithe was lessened.

I raised a single a single arm up, knife in hand, and slashed down.

The throne was sundered along the path I had made, before it collapsed into pebbles and sand.

I tapped the comm earpiece. "Negotiator to Lisa. Confirmation of throne and its destruction. Maya is inbound for Brockton Bay."

.

* * *

**Maya | Game of Thrones  
Worm AU**


	10. After the End 1

The woman walked up the mountain, she took no pleasure in the crisp clean air.

This wasn't that unusual a thing, she had walked for most of her life. Her feet were something she could trust with absolute certainty.

It had taken some time for her to get here.

But her power said that this was the optimum path. And yet, she dared not ask it for the answer she had came for. All she had were questions.

This was the last task she had, the absolute last task that she had before she could lay down the burden that she had carried for most of her life.

Ever since that day, long ago.

All her life, burdened with the great task. To save the world from the evil gods.

She shook her head, she had been naive to the ways of reality, once, an impressionable girl.

Still, her power indicated that the path she traveled was safe, that this was the optimal path for her.

And thus, she continued the climb up the mountain as the sun slowly set in the west.

What she found was not what she expected. True, it had been months since the end of everything, and she expected the one she sought to still be alive.

She did not expect to find a cosy home in the mountain facing the setting sun; dug into the ground with turf roof and walls, and a stone wall.

Smoke rose out of the chimney, while the flickering light of a fire place and a lamp shone out the window.

Concern for a moment rose in her heart at the notion that the one she had come for had already found someone to look for her. That concern faded away as she shrugged, her power had guided her this far, it would guide her further.

Before she could speak up from where she stood what should be well outside of the range of control, the door opened and the other looked at her before speaking up. "You can come in, Contessa. I promise I won't use my power on you."

In english.

It appeared that Taylor Hebert had healed her mind in the time the journey had taken.

With a shrug and relief in her heart, she entered the home of the savior of humanity. She wouldn't need to do what she had feared she had to do.

.

* * *

**After the End | Palaver  
Worm AU**


End file.
